Gang-raped woman falls from 5-storey building while fleeing; survives

A 27-year-old woman in Mumbai not only managed to escape her rapists but also survived after falling from a five-storey building's terrace while fleeing from them. The incident that took place in the wee hours of Saturday, March 18, awakened a neighbour living on the fourth floor who said that he heard a woman scream at around 4 am.

"A woman could be heard screaming and all of a sudden, she fell from the terrace. She first collided against our window and fell on the parapet and then into a gutter between two buildings. We immediately informed our neighbours. The residents ran out and found the bleeding woman. We rushed her to the hospital," a neighbour told The Times of India. The bleeding woman was rushed to a hospital by the local residents.

Suspecting foul play, the neighbours locked the door of the fifth floor to keep her tormentors from escaping. The police have arrested Faruk Khan (31) and his associate Santosh Kanojia (26) from the Pydhonie building on charges of gang-rape, criminal intimidation and wrongful restraint.

According to the investigators, the survivor and Kanojia met last week in a train. While talking, the woman told Kanojia that she was going to Mumbai to search for a job. Kanojia then offered to help her and also said that he would provide her with a temporary accommodation in his rented room at Bhiwandi, where he did odd jobs.

"They stayed there for a week and came to Mumbai on Thursday evening. Kanojia told the woman that since it was 9pm, they would not get a return train to Bhiwandi. He proposed that they spend the night with Khan, a friend. He took her to a room also used as a godown by Khan's employer, which was usually shared by the employees. However, Khan was alone that night. The two accused got drunk. Kanojia raped the woman and Khan assisted him," a police source told TOI.

While a police officer said that after the two accused went to sleep, the woman escaped and went to the terrace from where she slipped and fell into the gutter, a neighbour pointed it out that if the woman intended to jump off the terrace, she would not have screamed for help. The neighbours also added that she must have been thrown off the terrace.

The woman, who is out of danger, will soon be interrogated to determine how many men raped her and if Kanojia had raped her in Bhiwandi too.